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Activated carbon is also often used within domestic households or business premises to treat drinking water. This may either be at Point Of Entry (POE) in the building, or at the Point of Use (POU) of the drinking water. Point of Entry systems will usually treat all of the water entering the building, and may be installed to reduce contaminants that may affect health. Point Of Use (POU) systems, which may be undersink filters, tap filters, water jug filters, or filters used in beverage machines, predominantly improve the taste of the water. In such filters there will usually be other sorbent materials as well as the carbon, so that the filters can remove a wide range of contaminants and soften the water too.

As the activated carbon works, the adsorption pores in its structure will gradually be filled up, and once full, contaminants can start to break through the filter. At this point, or preferably before, the carbon must be replaced with fresh. In large water treatment works, the granular carbon used in the beds filters will normally be sent for regeneration several times before being replaced.